Belgium donates to Blockchain Initiative of World Food Programme

The country contributes 2 million Euro to United Nations’ WFP for the blockchain project

On 19th April 2018, the Belgium government announced a contribution of 2 million Euro donation to United Nations’ World Food Programme blockchain project. The blockchain project plan will help lessen the gap between the resource requirements and aid delivery on the ground.

World Food Programme blockchain initiative

The WFP Blockchain project was unveiled at the Leveraging Innovation for Humanitarian Action held in New York. The Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Development Cooperation in Belgium, Alexander De Croo stated the following regarding the donation made by the country;

Innovation saves lives. This year, more than 128 million people across the world will need humanitarian assistance and protection. This is triple the number of three years ago. Only by finding better ways to deliver aid more efficiently will we close the gap between requirements and aid delivery on the ground. Belgium lauds the efforts of WFP to come up with innovative solutions to save more lives and help more people in need.

In May 2017, the United Nations declared a program to use the Ethereum blockchain technology. The plan was to use it to give access to food rations by distributing coupons to refugees in Jordan. Ethereum would be then used instead of the local currency. Over 10,000 people have gained advantage using blockchain technology being tested by the World Food Programme in Pakistan.